Christ Church Daily Devotion Feb 5 2024

Jacob has a dream where he sees a stairway to heaven with angels going up and down. God appears and promises Jacob the same land and blessings given to his grandfather Abraham. The children of Israel had a special relationship with God and understood that they were blessed to be a blessing to others. As followers of Jesus, we have a similar task to share the good news and invite others to follow Him. The focus should be on reaching those who don't know Christ rather than debating their fate. The prayer is to be directed towards helping someone seek God and opening their heart to Him. Welcome to Christchurch's Daily Devotion for February 5th, 2024. Today we will be reading from Genesis, chapter 28, verses 10 through 14. Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There, above it, stood the Lord, and He said, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All people on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. It is interesting sometimes, as we read scripture, to see something repeated in almost the same words that we have read before. In today's reading, God's promise to Jacob in verse 14 is almost exactly the same as God's promise to His grandfather Abraham. As we read the Hebrew scriptures that we call the Old Testament, we cannot help but see the special relationship the children of Israel enjoyed with God. But they understood a very important aspect of their special relationship. They were blessed to be a blessing. God would use them in order to reach all people of the world. As followers of Jesus Christ, you too have a very special relationship with God through the grace that comes with faith in Christ. But like the children of Israel, we have a special task to bless other people. Instead of spending our time debating whether people who do not know about Jesus Christ will go to heaven or hell, we are to share the good news with them. The church is not something we hang on to for ourselves and a few people like us. Our focus is to be on those who are not yet in the church, passing along to them the joy of living the way of Jesus Christ and inviting them to follow Him. Your personal worship option today is to pray with me. Almighty God, point me today to someone who does not yet know you through Christ. Give me the words to say that will help them seek you and open their heart to you. Then let me get out of the way. Amen.